FEMA approves funding for Sioux Valley Southwestern Electric Cooperative

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved more than one-point-two million dollars to reimburse Sioux Valley Southwestern Electric Cooperative for emergency cleanup and restoration of electric service after a severe winter storm last year. High winds and heavy icing caused widespread damage in the cooperative’s territory leaving nearly ten-thousand customers in Lake, Minnehaha and Moody counties without power and damaging hundreds of poles, power lines, and other equipment.

The one-point-two million dollars from FEMA represents a 75-percent federal cost-share for the project. The State of South Dakota will provide an additional 161-thousand dollars in funding for the project with the cooperative responsible for the remaining costs.

The federal funding is provided through FEMA’s Public Assistance Grant Program, which reimburses state, tribal, local and certain non-profit agencies for a portion of the repair and rebuilding of public infrastructure damaged as a result of a presidentially-declared disaster.